Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I choose archlinux because it's very simple.... generally distributions are cluttered with stuff you don't need...

I've built my desktop perfectly the Arch-way and there is nothing extra....... for example: I don't use printer there is no software related to printer etc...

The less stuff you have...the less chance for error there is... which is why I love my Arch... I can basically learn most of packages i have installed in contrast with other distros that have many packages I don't need.

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I choose archlinux because it's very simple.... generally distributions are cluttered with stuff you don't need...

I've built my desktop perfectly the Arch-way and there is nothing extra....... for example: I don't use printer there is no software related to printer etc...

The less stuff you have...the less chance for error there is... which is why I love my Arch... I can basically learn most of packages i have installed in contrast with other distros that have many packages I don't need.

This is... not true. The Arch-way is to compile all software --with-kitchen-sink, then *if possible* list things as optdepends. There's lots of software that e.g. links to the libcups shared libraries, then depends on that, so many people do have printer-related software installed even if they don't use it. Without this, it is impossible for the people who do use printers to use these features at all.

Last edited by eschwartz (2018-03-30 13:54:42)

Managing AUR repos The Right Way -- aurpublish (now a standalone tool)

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I do have libcups, but I could print just fine without it. I do not have any other part of cups installed. I have a script to print that uses curl to send the pdf to the networked printer. Cups does not allow one to print it just adds two abilities, 1) to talk to printers that were designed to not talk to anyone, and 2) to have a "print" toolbar button or menu item. I don't have toolbars or menus ... so ...

(I have libcups just for qt5-base. I thought about rebuilding qt5-base without it. qt5base has gtk3 in makedepends ... are you ****ing kidding me!)

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Trilby wrote:

I do have libcups, but I could print just fine without it. I do not have any other part of cups installed. I have a script to print that uses curl to send the pdf to the networked printer. Cups does not allow one to print it just adds two abilities, 1) to talk to printers that were designed to not talk to anyone, and 2) to have a "print" toolbar button or menu item. I don't have toolbars or menus ... so ...

(I have libcups just for qt5-base. I thought about rebuilding qt5-base without it. qt5base has gtk3 in makedepends ... are you ****ing kidding me!)

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I choose archlinux because it's very simple.... generally distributions are cluttered with stuff you don't need...

I've built my desktop perfectly the Arch-way and there is nothing extra....... for example: I don't use printer there is no software related to printer etc...

The less stuff you have...the less chance for error there is... which is why I love my Arch... I can basically learn most of packages i have installed in contrast with other distros that have many packages I don't need.

This is... not true. The Arch-way is to compile all software --with-kitchen-sink, then *if possible* list things as optdepends. There's lots of software that e.g. links to the libcups shared libraries, then depends on that, so many people do have printer-related software installed even if they don't use it. Without this, it is impossible for the people who do use printers to use these features at all.

I don't compile (except when I must). I don't do things if I don't have to do them .

You are right I have libcups but not cups.

I am not that advanced user so you (as Trusted User) probably know more than I do. Anyway, I am impressed with Arch Linux and wouldn't go back to any other distro.

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Well, sure, Arch is still awesome. Just not because it is the most lightweight system out there. There's other, more lightweight systems. Gentoo, for example, trades compiling everything yourself for the ability to use USE flags to define every single feature you want for each package, and is probably the most customizable distro. Alpine is a distro which focuses on a minimalist musl libc and busybox base.

Arch focuses on simplicity of design, not minimalism of features. It is a similar goal but not really the same thing.

Managing AUR repos The Right Way -- aurpublish (now a standalone tool)

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I like it because it is the best (only?) Canadian distro available, one reason anyway. I also like the customization possibilities. I love Gentoo for the same reason but I don't have the patience sometimes, or the CPU power usually with the computers I use with Linux in order to stick with Gentoo.

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Prior to arch I was a "distro-hopper". Could not find a distro I would be happy with. I can't remember how I found arch but it gives me what I want from the system: it works the way I want it to work. From the very beginning it is my choice what I want in the system. First installation was very painful (I configured wifi in terminal prior and post installation - never again:) ) It also gave great opportunity to learn how system works and bring new challenges every day. A new challenge is to make HDMI connection to display desktop correctly on tv. Unfortunately I do not have time right now to mess with xorg.conf, and xrandr seems not to work very well in my case (but I have not exploited all xrandr options yet). My greatest surprise is that Arch has not broken down yet on me. And yes, I forced canon printer to work. I can't remember how I did it. But it works And my kids sometimes ask me " Daddy, is it still arch?" It is good to teach kids how the system works. - "Daddy, can you install leoCAD?"- "Well, if you want leocad, install it yourself, here is pacman documentation."She decided to go for .AppImage of leoCAD. If I was her I would to, why should I bother reading these linux spells? Yesterday, I asked one of my kids to fix 10-monitor.conf via arch-chroot With a bit guidance she has done it!

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

ad4ms3 wrote:

Prior to arch I was a "distro-hopper". Could not find a distro I would be happy with. I can't remember how I found arch but it gives me what I want from the system: it works the way I want it to work. From the very beginning it is my choice what I want in the system. First installation was very painful (I configured wifi in terminal prior and post installation - never again:) )

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

I initially migrated to Arch from Gentoo after the latter stopped maintaining a GRSec kernel. Being security conscious, and never having tried Arch before, I wanted to keep a hardened kernel running on my system without watching every single package be compiled.

Also, I've used quite a few distributions, from Slackware to Ubuntu. While they've each met individual goals, none of them have afforded me all of what I desire. This does. I can compile a single package or package group from AUR if I want, and then let the official repositories do the rest. I can learn at a reasonably stimulating level without building a system from stage 2. I can enjoy something that's very light and fast while still having a package management tool. The list goes on.

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Arch was recommended to me by a former colleague about 3 years ago. Was using Ubuntu before and really got hooked by the extreme customizability and simplicity of Arch. You're not forced to use a crappy window manager (looking at you Unity), AUR makes installing almost anything - even if it may be completely obscure - a breeze, and the documentation is stellar.Haven't looked back. Sadly locked into Ubuntu at work now, which blows... you immediately miss the freshness of Arch packages

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Like many of us, I came from Gentoo but it was so long ago that I don't remember how long I've been using Arch on my personal computers exclusively. I started around 2001 with Red Hat when I was in college, then around 2003 I went full Gentoo. My first Gentoo install took around 7 days, because of the 'compiling everything', which I loved, and it failed so it took me another 3 days to try again for a successful and working environment with KDE and stuff. After a while something happened with Gentoo and I tried many other distros and also BSDs, then one day my friend, who tested way more distros than I, recommended me arch, this was somewhere between 2006 and 2008, and I haven't looked back ever since.

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

The question is given. I am looking forward to the opinions.

My own story. For many years I have used Debian. Then I switched to Linux Mint. Recently, I liked the simplicity and speed of Arch. A few years ago I tested Manjaro Linux. This year I've installed Arch Linux natively. Fresh, fast and stable. Arch Wiki is one of the most complex knowledge materials in the Linux world.

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

Re: why you choose ArchLinux?

One of the many reasons I use Arch is complete control over disk partitioning. In particular, I remember struggling to get full encryption with btrfs working on some of the mainstream distributions like Ubuntu. Perhaps it's easier these days. Anyway, with Arch, no problem.

Arch is also good for just learning how Linux works. The documentation feels like a more readable and simple version of LFS (not surprising since this is how it started).